Puan Sri Datin Hajjah Puteh Mariah Binti Ibrahim Rashid

Ketua Wanita UMNO yang pertama atau masa itu dikenali sebagai Ketua Kaum Ibu UMNO

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New Straits Times - Aug 3, 1987 Lasting impressions of a political activiist Puan Sri Puteh Mariah was conferred an honorary degree —Doctor of Laws — by Universiti Sains Malaysia recently. Writer ALINA RANEE met her at her family firm to find out about the life and times of this indomitable woman. Energy, inner strength and lively intelligence These first impressions sun uo Puan Sri Datin Hajjah Puteh Mariah binti Ibrahim Rashid, first head of Kaum Ibu, and recipient of an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws, from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Wearing a black, white and grey scarf and a striped baju kurung, she looked much younger than 73 years. Her reaction to the honorary degree was low-keyed: "The award is alsa an honour for all womwn to contribute to the nation," said Puan Sri Puteh Mariah in an interview with New Straits Times. The words "first" and "only" have been following Puan Sri Puteh Mariah throughout her life. Among her achievements, she was the first woman Federal Justice of the Peace, in the 1950s the only woman in the Perak State Council, the first Malayan woman to head the country's Girl Guides Association ("I took over from Lady MacGillivry after Merdeka), founder-member and later vice-president of the Muslim Women's Welfare Council. Puan Sri Puteh Mariah organised the national level Kaum Ibu movement officially declared at a meeting of Umno women's representatives in Johore.

   Puan Sri Puteh Mariah was born in Kuala Kurau, in Krian district, Perak.  Her husband, Tri Sri Zainal Abidin Abas whom she married at 16, was at one time secretary-general of Umno, succeeding Panglima Bukit Gantang. Asked what set her seriously into politics, Puan Sri answered: "The suffering of the post-war years." After the war the British Military Administration took control of the towns but most rural areas were in lessness and unrest, said Puan Sri Puteh Mariah. She had seen "the atrocities going on under the Bintang Tiga (military arm of the Malayan Communist Party). "I visited Manong and Parit where they had burn whole villages as the people were preparing for dawn prayers.  They cut off the heads of two womwn and children. Iwent to Kuala Kangsar and saw a girl there who had a spear pierced through her but thank God, she was alive."

  Relief work appealed to Puan Sri Puteh Mariah's adventurous besides satisfying her humanitarian instincts.  Working in the Ipoh Citizens Advisory Bureau from 1945 to 1947 Puan Sri Puteh Mariah and other women volunteers helped in repairing the ravages of the war and reuniting families. "we went about in military lorries, handing out food, medical supplies and blankets in the kampungs and outlying areas.  The people showed a true soirit og gotong royong.  We stayed in houses of strangers," she recalled. These early experiences changed Puan Sri Puteh Mariah's outlook.